book 15

Sir Launcelot on the Quest

The Demon's Tale

Meanwhile, after three days the hermit lent Sir Launcelot a new horse, helm and sword, and he set off again.

At a chapel he saw the well-attired body of a dead old man, and met a mourner who wanted to know why the corpse was not in the hair shirt of his holy order. To find out he conjured up a horrible fiend who told this tale...

The old man's nephew Aguarus was warred against by the Earl de Vale, so he took a sabatical off being a hermit and helped capture the earl and force a peace. Unfortunately the evil earl broke the peace and sent two of his own nephews to kill the old man after mass, but their swords could not penetrate his holiness so they stripped him naked and were about to burn him when he claimed that their fire could not harm him nor any thread on his body, so they gave him a new, non-hair shirt as a test. Sure enough, when the fiend found him in the ashes next day, although he was dead neither he nor his new shirt were even singed, so he laid him out in the chapel where Launcelot and the mourner now beheld him.

And with his story done, the fiend "departed with a great tempest".

Launcelot Gets the Plot Back

Launcelot spent the night with the fiend-conjuring yet God-fearing mourner and was told yet again that he had shagged far too much to ever see the Sangreal, but got the dead guy's old hair shirt and became a vegetarian teetotaler as consolation, and confessed his sins.

This must have helped, because back on his travels he had a vision at the very next cross he fell asleep at, and saw seven kings and two knights worshipping it, and then God came down and ticked off one of the knights (I wonder who ?) for vain-glory.

Meet the Ancestors

The next day he caught up with the thieving bastard who stole his horse and gear at the previous cross, knocked him out and retrieved his stuff.

The next hermit he sponged off explained his vision, saying that the seven kings and two knights were Launcelot's remarkable ancestors, holy men who still managed to beget descendants, being

  1. Nappus (the son of King Evelake, or Aramathie Joe, or possibly even Christ's "father" Joseph), who begat
  2. Nacien, the hermit in whom dwelled Christ,who begat
  3. Helias le Grose, who begat
  4. Lisais, who begat
  5. Jonas, who went to Wales, married Manuel's daughter and thus somehow inherited Gaul, who begat
  6. King Launcelot, who married the King of Ireland's daughter, who begat
  7. King Ban of Benwick (the last king), who begat
  8. Sir Launcelot, who was raped by King Pelles' daughter Elaine, and thus unwillingly begat
  9. Sir Galahad, whom Solomon foresaw as the last of his line and a confirmed virgin, and thus unable to begat at all.
The hermit advised Launcelot to give his son plenty of space, then sent him off to bed in his itchy hair shirt.

Black and White

The next morning Launcelot wandered off into the forest and ended up picking the wrong side and failing to help 250 black nights (led by Argustus, son of King Harlon, and representing sinful earthly knights) defend their castle against 250 white knights (led by Eliazar, son of King Pelles, and representing virgins), and the white knights overcame him and dragged him off into the forest.

The next day he met a female recluse who explained the previous day's metaphor, and that though he was peerless amongst earthly, sinful knights, the pure, wholesome Sangreal-virgins were out of his league.

The next day he crossed a raging torrent, was beaten up by a black knight, and thus ended his freaked-out trip.

Retreat to book 14

Move onward to book 16

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